Novak Djokovic locks up No.1 spot ahead of Australian Open final shootout

Novak Djokovic meets Jannik Sinner for a place in the Australian Open final on Friday boosted by the knowledge he cannot be toppled as world number one after the shock exit of Carlos Alcaraz The Serbian superstar will resume his march towards an 11th title and a record 25th Grand Slam crown in the afternoon session on Rod Laver Arena again bumped from his favoured evening slot The 36yearold complained about feeling trapped by the oppressive heat on court when he battled past Taylor Fritz in the quarterfinals as the temperatures topped 32 degrees Celsius It is forecast to be about 10 degrees cooler on Friday and Djokovic is determined to keep intact his 33match unbeaten streak at Melbourne Park stretching back to 2018 He did not compete at the event in 2022 due to his coronavirus vaccination status Im aware of the streak that Im on and the amount of matches that I have won in my career on the Rod Laver Arena I dont want to let that go he said The longer the streak goes the more that kind of confidence also expectations built but also the willingness to really walk the extra mile so to say Whatever happens he will remain world number one Djokovic Alcaraz and Daniil Medvedev all began the seasons first major with a chance to depart Melbourne as the topranked player But after Alcarazs defeat to Alexander Zverev in the quarterfinals the Serb cannot be supplanted If Medvedev wins the title he will claim Alcarazs world number two spot Italian fourth seed Sinner is in the form of his life and will take comfort from beating Djokovic at the ATP Finals and Davis Cup late last season This is what I practise for to play against the best players in the world said the 22yearold who is targeting a maiden Grand Slam title Obviously has an incredible record here so for me its a pleasure to play against him especially in the final stages of the tournament where things are a little bit more interesting Im looking forward to it to be honest Its going to be toughAlso ReadlsquoNot all heroes wear capesrsquoMeanwhile sixth seed Zverev is through to the last four after his upset of Alcaraz weathering a big fightback from the Spaniard over four sets to earn a showdown with Medvedev He has played the Russian third seed 18 times before and has lost five of the past six A lot of matches were extremely close obviously said the 26yearold German who is still searching for a breakthrough Grand Slam title You know a lot of the times it came down to him being extremely confident last year him playing some of the best tennis of his life and me coming back from injury and not having the confidence in deciding moments But yeah hes obviously extremely difficult to play No question about it Hes one of the best players in the world right now Medvedev is into an eighth major semifinal but has only won one title at the 2021 US Open He made the final at Melbourne in 2021 and 2022 but succumbed to Novak Djokovic then Rafael Nadal and has made clear he wants to go the way this time Despite being broken 18 times during the tournament and being forced to fight through two gruelling five setters he is not concerned about his form I see Novak I think got broken also Its maybe something with the balls or the court he said Im really not too much worried about this especially when you win matches I feel like Im actually serving good But yeah good that I manage to be in the semis getting broken 18 timesWith agency inputs